SUMMARY: The #BidenSoOld movement pushed Biden into his basement where he could commune with his alter egos and superpowers, Dark Brandon and America’s Grandfather. Together the three of them crafted away out of the trap that they had been pushed into. Together they found away to turn #BidenSoOld and Election 2024 on its head and give the forces of good a chance at victory. He found the strength needed while suffering from #COVID19, maybe the source of all of his strength. It is time to savor the moment that has renewed our hope for saving our democracy and energized our tired loins so they can be girded for the 100 day sprint to the election.
KEY WORDS: Election 2024, Joe Biden, Donald Trump, #BidenSoOld, Kamala Harris, Delaware Basement, #COVID19, Dark Brandon, America’s Grandfather, Superpower
COMMENTS: Let us revel in the moment together in the comments. We know the onslaught of racist misogyny is coming for Harris, so let’s prepare for our renewed battle for our democracy.
Table of Contents
Use these links to skip around to the sections you think might be the best for you to read.
- Election 2024: The I’ve Got a Bad Feeling About This Election
- Dark Brandon & America’s Grandfather Both Needed to Pull Biden From the Race
- A Moment of Perfection to Savor
- Image Attribution
Dwelling somewhere deep in the sub-basement to the sub-basement under the infamous basement of Biden’s Delaware home — you know the one where he stayed while “landsliding” his way to victory over Trump in 2020 with the exact same number of Electoral Votes that Trump claimed as a landslide over Clinton in 2016, and they say God has no sense of humor — you’ll find Dark Brandon.
Like all super heroes, just when the hour seemed darkest and the forces of good the most doomed, he steps out and sets the world aright again.
Joe Biden called upon his dual superpowers: (1) America’s beloved grandfather, a likable old white guy, this era’s Walter Cronkite and (2) Dark Brandon, able to end the malarky with a steady steely glare.
Talk about pulling the rabbit out of Trump’s ass, or however that old magic trick goes. Biden has in a short twenty-minute span turned the presidential race on its head, reborned the world, and did it all from his famed basement in Delaware while having #COVID19 — wasn’t that what was supposed to disqualify him from being president in 2020? Looks more like his seat of power than anything else, doesn’t it?
That’s a better day and more accomplishment than the Felonious Rapist Traitor had in his entire life put together.
Election 2024: The I’ve Got a Bad Feeling About This Election
Bad Mental Health = A Lack of Choices
Let’s face it, we were all feeling bad about Election 2024. Somehow, Trump had been leading Biden in the polls for a YEAR. A YEAR! No one really wanted to see Biden-Trump 2.0, Return of the Demented Felonious Rapist Traitor. It was being a box office flop.
The lack of choices, real choices, had started to erode the nation’s mental health. We were seeing and hearing the same things over and over again like some kind of bad acid trip. There seemed to be no escape.
To Trump it didn’t matter. To him, the sewage was flowing his way from SCOTUS decisions, Aileen Cannon, and being assassination adjacent. His Messiah Complex was on the upswing after having been near narcissistic collapse last year. Nothing seemed to affect his polling numbers or his “lead” over Biden.
In fact, recent reporting suggests that Trump was planning on a landslide victory over Biden. He thought the whole thing was in the bag. His path to victory was expansive and expanding.
Biden’s Debate Performance Starts the #BidenSoOld Panic
Biden, you know, was feeling it even before THE DEBATE PERFORMANCE. He was frustrated that his historic legislative, social policy, and foreign policy accomplishments hadn’t made his re-election a shoe in. He was frustrated by his inability to affect public perceptions of him.
It must’ve been maddening for him to have his members of his own party — How much did they pay you Lloyd Doggett, you smug asshole, who will retire with the cushy Representative retirement package that most of your constituents will never be able to come close to? How much did they pay you to risk flushing our democracy down the shitter, you shit? Fuck, I’ll never forgive him for starting the #BidenSoOld and then promoting the disastrous impossible open convention line — vocally and publicly turn against him.
The race should’ve been a cakewalk for him. Trump should’ve been ostracized and shunned for the 6 January Insurrection if not by the Republican Party, then by everyone else in America and the world. He was not a qualified viable candidate.
Look, I mean, if the Lord Almighty came down and said, ‘Joe, get outta the race,’ I’d get outta the race, he [Biden] said, adding, The Lord Almighty’s not comin’ down.
Joe Biden quoted in Joe Biden Says Only ‘the Lord Almighty’ Could Make Him Drop Out of the 2024 Presidential Race by Marina Watts on 6 July 2024 in People concerning his ABC News interview
When Biden said it would take a direct request from God to get him out of the race, it looks like he may have been right. God may have talked to him in Their own mysterious way.
Dark Brandon & America’s Grandfather Both Needed to Pull Biden From the Race
Biden reached way down in his Likable Old White Guy soul, found his Dark Brandon balls, and made one of the toughest decisions any human being could ever made. This wasn’t a reaction, a decision made in the heat of the moment. He didn’t dive on a grenade without thinking. This was a choice he had to contemplate and ponder over three agonizing weeks as he just couldn’t put an end to #BidenSoOld.
Oh, I was angry at first… And after I calmed down, I was alright, because in doing that, he endorsed Kamala. And I thought, well, that’s great.
Maxine Walters in ‘I was angry at first’: Maxine Waters on Biden’s withdrawal and her support for Harris by Catherine Allen on 23 July 2024 in Politico
I hate to make the analogy, but Biden’s announcement that he was stepping aside was a lot like making the decision to put a beloved pet down. I think we were all Maxine Walters when we heard it.
Doh! Biden Beats His Detractors at Their Own Game… AGAIN
Then, in a flash, it dawned on us all what a selfless genius move it was by Biden. He saw what the #BidenSoOld people couldn’t. They had put the party in a sealed box and the only way out was to use the fourth dimension. They couldn’t have a contested convention because Ohio and Michigan ballot deadlines — Don’t let the Lloyd Doggetts (May he be fucked forever in Hell by Jake Pickle because of the stupid way he’s ending his lackluster Congressional career — Man, he just makes me mad) of the world tell you different. The convention floor contest is a non-starter.
As soon as he endorsed Kamala Harris, it was like cyst being lanced on Dr. Pimple Popper. In a national Homer Simpson moment, we understood the situation. Kamala Harris would be the nominee. She was the perfect candidate for the job. She could legally — or have the least likely successful legal challenge — inherit Biden’s presidential campaign organization and money. She was already at least somewhat well known to the country after being vice president. She was qualified because vice president. She had been involved in running a national presidential campaign — One of the hardest things anyone could ever do; when Biden would quip to the #BidenSoOld people, try following my daily schedule and see how you do, he wasn’t kidding. It would kill most of us.
Then the momentum snowballed. Endorsements, donations, volunteers, praise for Biden’s selflessness, praise for Harris.
A Moment of Perfection to Savor
Now, we have this rare perfect moment in American politics. We all believe that Harris can absolutely win and has energized the country in a way that neither Biden nor the Felonious Rapist Traitor nor Jamoke Dumbass Vance ever could. Suddenly, we’re dreaming again. Suddenly, the future looks a little brighter. Suddenly, hope is blooming like spring flowers.
Biden has used his superpower as the empathetic trusted likable old white guy national grandpa figure to lead us to the promised land.
Every silver lining has a dark center, and this is what came from the bullshit of #BidenSoOld. It couldn’t have happened this way under any other scenario. We’ve got real momentum as we enter the last hundred days of the election. Rev the engine into the redline, pop the clutch, and head for the finishline.
There’s lots of stuff to be done, but we’ve effectively turned a marathon into a sprint. To count the Ol’ Pussy Grabber out. He’s slipped out of tighter boxes than Harris’ but we’re finally sitting in a pretty good position.
Biden delivers AGAIN!
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Image Attribution
This image was found on the India Today YouTube Channel using a DuckDuckGo image search.
The Psy of Life 
I have never liked Biden but he played this one masterfully. I bet he doesn’t even have dementia. He was Junior Soprano pretending he didn’t know what year it was & going off on where he was when JFK was shot. He’s obviously not well but it’s not his brain that’s the problem.
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Howdy Silver!
That issue of liking a politician or not is an interesting one. For men, it doesn’t matter whether their voters like them or not. They’ll still get their votes if they “approve” of them. For women, being liked is imperative, and it is a double-edged sword. Clinton wasn’t liked because of the very qualities that had a man had them (a) he would’ve been liked and admired and (b) he would’ve been considered qualified and a strong leader. Without them, she would’ve been seen as unqualified and lacking in leadership. It’s almost like women can’t win in this political environment.
Maybe, just maybe, Harris is coming at the right moment to overcome that particular quandary.
Biden has played the situation wonderfully. He’s gone from being a national goat to being a national hero. I think two things are clear about Biden (1) he doesn’t have dementia or any other similar condition and (2) he has been affected by age-related cognitive and physical decline, which does not disqualify him from holding office.
It is still unbelievable to me that Trump isn’t ostracized from the national stage by all actors, especially the national press. He should be shunned and treated as the pariah he is, but he’s considered a viable candidate for office instead. Absolutely unbelievable.
Huzzah!
Jack
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I don’t vote for people depending on whether or not I like them. Imagining having a beer with a politician is not one of the reasons for voting for that person. I used to work for the Democrats, for a NY Assemblyman; I was a writer & I met a lot of politicians on both sides of the aisle, back in the early 2000s, many of them were quite affable & charming, but that doesn’t mean I wanted to vote for them. But I think the average American is pretty stupid (sorry, it’s true). They don’t think too long or too hard about their vote. They vote on emotion; they vote for a politician because they like the person or vote against someone because they don’t like them; or they vote for the person they think is going to win, because they want to be on the winning side. Or they vote single-issue; in my Catholic family, the single issue is abortion. I’ve often said that my mother would vote for the devil himself if he promises to outlaw abortion.
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Howdy Silver!
The interesting thing is that all of that can be true, and the very real human tendency to hold women to a more impossible contradictory standard can be true to. Other than certain reified issues like abortion and gun rights, political views are incredibly malleable. Witness the Republican turnabout on on Russia.
Nowadays, those big group trends are even more true. We are truly tribal in our party affiliation. Even the vaunted independent voter tends to vote for one party or the other.
That’s what made 2020 such a fascinating election. Republicans split their ticket. They voted Biden, and then for Republicans down ballot. That was an anomaly, so I don’t know why I’m surprised that we are regressing towards the mean with such widespread support for Trump, but I am.
Those Republicans that split their tickets in 2020 are a lot less likely to do so this time around due to hindsight bias.
As we’ve said since the beginning of Ye Olde Blogge — in fact one of the driving insights of its inception — thinking is hard, so people avoid it whenever possible. We are emotional decision-makers. Our rational thinking parts are just their to justify our emotional decisions. Emotionally, people will react to Harris’ candidacy with either excitement or disdain — the FIRST Black-Asian woman — depending on their feelings about Blacks, Asians, and women becoming president. As we saw in2016, the misogyny of America is greater than its racial animus.
In November, we’ll find out who is more populous, the haters or lovers.
Huzzah!
Jack
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Hey Cal-Jack, I live in Buffalo (I’m sure I’ve mentioned that before) & I really don’t know many thinking people AT ALL. It’s all emotion all the time. Maybe if I hung around the university a bit more than I do, but I just don’t anymore. (I’m looking to relocate to another city, but that’s another topic). But even when I was taking classes at UB, I used to routinely hear, “I feel that…” instead of “I think…” which used to really piss me off. USE YOUR BRAIN ALREADY. YOU’RE IN FUCKING COLLEGE! I call it the Oprah-ization of America, but all those daytime talk-about-your-feelings-people are culpable. Insisting that people get in touch with their feelings at the cost of using their brains.
In Buffalo, people are so emotional that there are Yankees bars & Red Sox bars. Back in 2011, I walked into a now-defunct bar called Checkers & there was a Yankees game on the TV & I was enjoying the game with a beer & some pretzels & the bartender asked me if I was a Yankees fan, & I told him that I was a Red Sox fan, mostly because I used to live in the Greater Boston area & I have great memories of the 1975 World Series (I was 15 at the time). He said & I’ll never forget this, “Well, we’ll let you drink here anyway. But Murray’s is right up the street, & that’s where you belong.”
BTW, around here, Yankees fans are more likely to be GOP/Trumpsters & they’re every bit as ignorant & obnoxious. Lots of them don’t know any about baseball beyond the basics that they learned in grade school.
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Howdy Silver!
Thinking is hard and we evolved to do it as little as possible. When entertainers and politicians pander to the emotional responses and decision-making, it makes it all the less likely that we’ll engage those thinking portions of our brain and overcome the barrier to engaging in critical thought.
The Yankee-Res Socks dichotomy of Buffalo — who woulda thunk — is the perfect metaphor for the sportification of our politics. We now support parties and politicians like we do sports teams and star players. Identity and trash talk are all that matter. Issues and actual governance don’t. It is the first step to gutting a democracy so it can be taxidermied with fascism.
Huzzah!
Jack
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I’m thinking of a quote, I think from Sun Tzu, on the wisdom of doing what your enemy thinks you can’t do. The Republicans, Trump in particular, could not imagine that Biden would/could step aside, (because who would ever give up power?) or that the Democrats could get their act together and avoid a suicidal nomination fight if he did. The BidenSoOld crew (Dare I call them saboteurs?) did not imagine that the party, from the leadership to the grass roots, would instantly rally behind Harris. Well, they were both wrong, and here we are.
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Howdy Bob!
We all underestimated Joe Biden this time around. No one thought he would withdraw to unite the party and protect our democracy from Trump and MAGA Republicans. The #BidenSoOld group and Republicans didn’t think Biden would do it any other way than petulantly and kicking and screaming, and that other candidates would jump in and it would be a cat fight.
As soon as I heard AOC say that no one wants the nomination that way, I realized that was exactly right and that’s why no one was stepping up in the run up to Biden withdrawing.
Right now, what I thought Harris couldn’t do is hit the ground running, but she has. I also wonder if she can keep it up because last time, she started hot and fizzled early, as I recall.
Huzzah!
Jack
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One thing that helped achieve the result we are seeing was Biden’s absolute insistence right up to the day before the letter that he was not going to quit. Even those who expected that eventually he would have to were taken by surprise. The Republicans are still trying to wrap their brains around the change and flailing about still in their Biden-So-Old mode (saying he should also resign). If Harris can feed on the energy that’s coming her way, she ha a good shot, and it is going to help the down ballot too.
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One of the lines of attack they are trying out is Harris knew he was senile and helped cover it up, so she can’t be trusted. It’s part of their racist sexist attacks against her.
Biden’s withdrawal speech should help combat that. Of course, every public appearance by Biden will be carefully dissected for evidence of cognitive decline.
I don’t think Biden knew he was going to quit until he did.
Huzzah!
Jack
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The speech was a great bit of framing of the decision, that it was a political decision, not a personal one, tactical and strategic in the context more of his reason for running in 2020, to get Trump out of the WH, and to be a generational bridge. And, again he was in the race to keep Trump out, not to keep himself in. He concluded that this was the best move toward that goal. It was not a question of fitness, but of the perception of fitness politically. Whether planned or spontaneous out of his political instincts, the surprise move was brilliant. Sun Tzu would be proud. That other guy who actually said that other quote would also approve the tactic.
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Howdy Bob!
I thought the speech was spot on. I was surprised-not surprised by how the punditting pundits punditted on his every hesitancy, false start, and seemingly dryness of his mouth. As in “Being Sane in Insane Places” everything he did was evidence of his cognitive decline. In some ways I’m glad he got out the way he did because now he’s being hailed as a national hero and political genius rather than the doddering old fool that the press and his detractors were making him out to be.
It also speaks to his keen executive functioning that he could make such a coldly rational decision that had to be a huge narcissistic injury.
It also was probably the best way he could handoff to Harris. If he had done it a year ago, I doubt her reception would’ve been so welcoming, and I bet there would’ve been challengers. If he made it earlier in the process, it would’ve confirmed everyone’s worst fears about his “decline.” Later, and Harris would’ve been too far behind the eight ball to run effectively.
Huzzah!
Jack
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The timing and the method appear to have been near perfection, along with the delayed speech, maximizing the surprise and adding a bit of mystery. Team Trump still appears to be gob smacked and disoriented.
By framing the decision as politically tactical and strategic and ignoring those who were demanding he explain it in terms of fitness, as well as those who might have expected anger an bitterness against those creating the pressure to quit, he shut them down as irrelevant. The emphasis on the goal of stopping Trump both now and in the decision to run in 2020, framed the task for Harris and the party.
It was vintage Joe Biden, and let the adversaries know that running or not, President or not, he is not yet a toothless tiger, or cognitively compromised.
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Howdy Bob!
As much as I love Obama and as successful as he was as president, one of the biggest differences between Biden and him is that tactical insight. Of course, Biden has the advantage of having been VP for eight years during the beginnings of the initial Republican push to create their dystopia. But, that is the point. Obama was elected with minimal experience in electoral politics, Biden, a lifetime’s worth.
Biden accomplished more and now is doing more to help his successor become president.
Huzzah!
Jack
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Quite so!
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I hope this all works? I’m pleased to see the momentum that Harris seems to be developing. But I see a lot of things about the whole situation that the Democrats have put themselves in going back years already. The Democratic support of Biden has always been a bit, well, wishy-washy. The whole tone I was getting from the Democrats wasn’t enthusiastic support for their candidate, it was one of “well, he’s the only one we got…” .
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Howdy Grouchy!
Given Biden’s accomplishments, I can’t imagine support for him being wishy-washy, but it was. Given Trump’s existential threat to our democracy, I can’t imagine anyone treating him like a viable candidate, but he is. Politics is a game of what have you done for me lately, and by lately I mean on the time scale of social media.
It’s day three and I just heard that we’ve registered more new voters in one day than the day Taylor Swift asked her social media followers to register. So, here’s to hoping that the momentum carries her into the polling average lead and she’s able to pick it up from there. However, I remember another campaign that started hot and fizzled quickly… I’m just saying.
Huzzah!
Jack
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Biden SHOULD, step aside, as his mind is, going “out of business” these days, and, instead of, realizing his own, INABILITY to run a country sooner (because of either his EGO or that he’s been in, DENIAL about his own, mental conditions), and now, just FIVE months away from the elections, he finally, announces, his, GRAND EXIT off of the Democrat ticket, leaving there NO time to, find a, better candidate to replace him as president, which GUARANTEES that, EASY WIN for the, already too corrupt Republican Party, with the, CONVICTED FELON, Trump at the, helm, and, the ship that’s in O Captain My Captain is surely to, SINK! And, all of these, could’ve been, PREVENTED, had Biden admitted that he was, NO LONGER, able to, reside at the, “head of state”, which means, that, Biden basically, handed the U.S. to the, CORRUPT, Republican, Party, and, he IS, solely, responsible, for the downfall of, Uncle Sam.
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Howdy Taurus!
You’re completely misreading the situation. In the States, Biden is being hailed as a hero who has re-energized the Democratic ticket and igniting interest in the campaign. Harris is the BEST candidate — name one better. She has been the vice president for four years, there is no better experience than that for preparing someone for the job.
Evidence that the election has not been handed to Trump: in two days, Harris raises $100 million dollars in donations and thousands of campaign volunteers. The party has coalesced around her with NO ONE challenging her for the nomination.
Polling will, I’m predicting, show that she has gotten a bounce out of Biden stepping aside and her candidacy. Trump, I’m predicting, will not have gotten a polling bounce out of being assassination adjacent or his convention.
If she picks Gov Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Gov. Cooper of NC, or Sen Kelly of Arizona she pretty much wins those states. Two are battleground states and North Carolina was a RED due to gerrymandering, but elects Dems to statewide office, so makes it very likely she would win the state.
The excitement around her candidacy is being compared to the excitement around Barack Obama’s in 2008.
Biden’s political timing couldn’t have been better. Had he declined to run and left it an open primary, too many people would’ve gotten in which would’ve made it competitive primary damaging whoever the eventual winner was. If he had gotten out earlier, it would’ve risked others getting in or given the Republicans more time to focus their smear campaign on Harris.
As it is, the party has to take her because of the time squeeze of registering for the ballot in all fifty states and she being the only one who can legally take over Biden’s campaign organization and money because it is the Biden-Harris campaign and funds.
Whether predicted or not, this is the best of all possible worlds. It blunts any momentum Trump was building out of the convention, being shot at, and #BidenSoOld and hands Harris a helluva lot of momentum going into the last one hundred days of the campaign.
Huzzah!
Jack
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Compared to Trump, Biden would be the, better of the two options, but, the voters have to, consider how he may have signs of, dementia already, hoe he became, disoriented, or how he was confused, and, called his oppoonet by the wrong name and, these problems will, only worsen as his mind, slowly, deteriorates away, and right now, because he is only in the, starting stages, he can still, cover his own, improper, behaviors and, laugh it off as being “old” or, blaming his bad performance on a cold, lack of sleep, or whatever, but eventually, he won’t be able to make sound decisions in the, most basic of his, day-to-day life, then, that would leave the U.S., in a, really, bad situation, as his vice, Harris, isn’t “equipped” to, rule either. While Trump the felon, is, only good at, inciting public anger, rousing up riots, so, it’s bad, no matter who wins.
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Howdy Taurus!
This comment is awfully close to trolling. Not because you’re knocking Biden for his alleged cognitive deficits, but because you seem to be employing a racist dog whistle when you say Harris isn’t “equipped” to be president. For all the men who have sought the office of president a resume of state AG, US senator, and VP was more than enough to qualify them beyond question for the presidency. They might not make a “good” president, but such a resume shows that they are “equipped” to be president.
It is the same for Harris.
As president, she will be no worse than our second to worst president — she will certainly not be worse than our worst, Trump. Likewise, she probably won’t be better than our best presidents, either. But, she is going to be OK because you don’ get to be a state AG, senate, VP without being an adequate government official.
So, please. Cut your doom and gloom of the US. We stand poised to make a decision between democracy and oligarchy. The Democrats are a solid democracy-base freedom and fairness based party. The Republicans are fascist white supremacist oligarchs.
The fact that Biden just quit the race and endorsed Harris demonstrates his mental acuity. He outsmarted the stupid donor-bought #BidenSoOld movement and the even stupider open-convention (stupid since it would have put ballot access in Ohio in jeopardy). Not only did he figure it out — not hard, I figured it out if you’ve been following the blog posts — but he sat his ego aside and did it.
What you’re saying is tiresome nonsense and now you’re skating dangerously close to parroting Republican-Russian propaganda and racism. So, either you detail in what ways Harris isn’t equipped to be president, or risk not having your comments approved.
We make supported reasoned arguments here. We don’t have to agree, but we have to use evidence to support our assertions.
Huzzah!
Jack
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